The Australian Catholic Commission for Employment has said that the Federal Government's new Employee Entitlement Support Scheme could act as a disincentive to employers to make sure their employees' entitlements were protected.
The government announced recently that a national Employee Entitlement Support Scheme would be established to cover monies owed to employees of insolvent companies.
Commission Director John Ryan told The Catholic Weekly that scrupulous employers could be unnecessarily penalised. He said that while it was unfair to expect the taxpayer to subsidise such a fund, but that an obligatory insurance scheme could see some employers unnecessarily penalised.
The Commission will express its concerns to the Federal Minister for Workplace Relations, Peter Reith, after further discussing the issue with Catholic employer and social justice groups, as well as legal advisors.